


Retirement

by rosesscythes



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen, Pre-X7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 17:51:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17411456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesscythes/pseuds/rosesscythes
Summary: Zero insists X can't be done. X insists he is.





	Retirement

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I know this kind of fic has been done to death. But I just HAD to write my own take on it.

“I’m retiring from active duty.”

Five simple words, words Zero had heard spoken hundreds if not thousands of times from people both under his command and serving alongside him. Words he’d usually take with a solemn nod of his head and a hand on their shoulder and if they were lucky, an offer of a last drink at a local bar favored by the Hunters because hell, it was a better way out than the other options.

But they’d never carried such weight. Sure, there was an occasional shameful glance away from those who’d expected reproach, but never had they been said by someone whose back was turned, said in the quiet voice of acceptance he’d only heard from those who were about to die and were at peace.

And they were never from someone who was as close to him as X was, and never from someone who’d saved the world as many times as he had.

“X-“

X whirled around from where he was packing his armor. He stood in civilian clothes, a loose blue t-shirt and jeans on him. And even Zero, adorned in his blood red and icy white armor, leaning against his closed door, had to suppress a flinch at the one man he knew was just as deadly as he was.

“Don’t.” X replied, his tone harsh and finger raised. “You know me better than anyone else. You’ve known for the longest time this was coming, that this was an eventuality.”

“Did I?” Zero mused, crossing his arms but not moving. “Sure, maybe when the First was just starting, and we thought we’d both might make it out and I’d figured the horrors of war would be too much for you and Sigma would stay dead. Sure, maybe back when Doppletown was just reaching its zenith and I sent Blast Hornet out to check on it and I thought it might be the end, before the nightmare started anew.” He shook his head, as much to show the change in what he was about to say as it was to clear his mind of the bad memories. “But since then? No, X. I figured we were just about in this forever.”

“Maybe you figured you were, and hell, you could be,” X replied. He turned back to sorting his things. “But I always knew that once we got a solid amount of peace, then I would have mine as well.”

Zero sneered. “A solid amount? What qualifies a ‘solid amount’ to you, X?”

X paused, considering. “There haven’t been any Infected since Gate.”

“None besides me, you mean.”

X sighed, clearly having known Zero would bring that up. “Yes, I’m aware of that. But as Zero, the Hunter you’ve been since Sigma dragged you home and had Dr. Cain take a look at you, and not as Zero Wily, the supposed last creation of a madman who, even if he didn’t die back then, died when Gate’s castle collapsed? You haven’t been a Maverick.” He got back to packing, folding his clothes neatly and putting them into a suitcase he’d had since Dr. Cain first took him shopping for outfits other than his armor. “Besides, you haven’t felt it acting up recently either, have you?”

Zero paused carefully to choose his words, well aware that the truth would only provide X with more ammo no matter what he said. “No. A few nightmares, but more often normal ones anybody’d have, not the ones of him.” His fist clenched reflexively as he thought of his father, the one who plagued his dreams and whom he wished he could’ve killed himself. “But that doesn’t mean the fighting’s stopped. There’s still plenty of nutjobs, and you and I both know that with the right amount of charisma, someone else could do what Sigma’s done for years. Hell, Repliforce all but did it without him.”

“Repliforce was well-trained and organized under government law,” X shot back. “Anybody who tried that now under their own power would be known to the Hunters as a threat almost immediately, and you’d have plenty of time to study up on them and get rid of them before they made a move.” He realized his mistake almost as soon as he’d finished the sentence and Zero took a bold step forward.

“‘You’d?’” Zero snarled, body tense and hands clenched into fists. “So what, you leave it to me to clean the messes you leave behind? You know I wouldn’t leave you to rot like that, X!”

X spun back around, mind racing for a second. Zero wouldn’t pick a fight here, in his room, unarmored. He’d rather die again than do that, even if the Virus was at the forefront of his mind, screaming at him to kill X while he was weak, defenseless. “And yet you did,” X kept his voice level, trying to prevent their argument from escalating. “I do remember what you said, the second time you died. That you _wanted_ to die, so peace would last.”

Zero rolled his eyes, but adjusted his tone to try and match X, try and keep calm. “X, I was on my way out and thinking like a lunatic, and you were barely holding on. I was hoping that you wouldn’t have to fight anymore either! As you just said, I was hoping that without me, peace would last. And when it didn’t, I came back.”

“Exactly,” X replied, averting his gaze. “It didn’t last. With or without you, Zero, the Nightmare Virus happened. And while I know what you said to me, back when you came back, but I was too hyper to see you again to understand what bullshit it was. You were a fucking torso with a hole in it. Whatever brought you back...it wasn’t your choice, was it?”

Zero breathed for a second, finally being called out on a lie he’d told so long ago, and relaxed his body posture. “No, it wasn’t. But I could’ve stayed away. But no, I came back to the Hunters for you, X. I kept fighting for you.”

“ _Bullshit,_ ” X spat, far more accusatory and filled with venom than when he’d brought the subject up. “You and I both know that as long as you fight, you keep the Virus at bay. Hell, if anything, I only exacerbate it. Tell me, Zero. Tell me honestly, how many possible ways could you kill me right now?”

The fact that the Maverick Virus didn’t come roaring out, that it didn’t take advantage of X’s request and Zero’s sudden shock to force the Wilybot’s hands to pull the beam saber out of its storage on his back and slice X in half, shoulder to hip, was a miracle. Still, he gaped for a second. “I’m not going to answer that,” Zero finally snapped. “How dare you ask me that!”

“It’s a good question,” X replied, ice in his tone. “You keep fighting because it’s the best way for you to stay who you are, and for you to stay close to me at the same time. But with Sigma gone. I don’t need to be here anymore.”

“We don’t know that!” Zero yelled, rough and full of the fire that fueled him. “We don’t know that he or anyone as powerful as him is gone! It was more than Doppletown that made me give up, X! It was Laguz, and seeing old friends and foes brought back from the dead in an all-too-familiar way! It was Repliforce, and having people I trusted even more than those in the First turn Maverick of their own free will! It was Eurasia, and being killed and brought back to life in a world I only barely managed to save! I have to fight, not because of whatever the _fuck_ is going on in my head, but because _it won’t stop!_ ”

“And I’m not like you, Zero! _I can’t fight anymore_ _!_ ” X screamed, finally breaking, his voice ragged and fierce and tired and _raw_. It shifted, dropping to an exhausted whisper as his gaze sank to the floor. “I’m just...I can’t. I just want peace.”

Zero watched him apprehensively. “So what will you do instead?” he asked, full of the challenge of X to provide a good answer.

X’s gaze turned, to the back of his closet, where Zero was well aware a hidden compartment held his assortment of armors. “The Infinite Potential System. My father built me to be practically indestructible, and likely immortal as well, in order to be able to do anything. Master any task, solve any problem. The perfect robotic human. So far, all I’ve used that gift for is two things, one of which wasn’t even consciously.” He took a deep breath, before turning his head back to meet Zero’s eyes. “To become the perfect soldier, and to become the perfect antivirus. I want to use those gifts instead to help people during a time of peace. Organize the reconstruction. Address the societal causes that make free will Mavericks happen, rather than just dispose of them when they do. Eurasia practically settled all arguments between nations, simply because there was so little to squabble over left. I want to ensure that continues. If you’re really right, and Sigma comes back, I’ll be back. But so long as we don’t concretely know it’s him, even if it looks like a plain old dupe, I’m staying gone.”

Zero frowned, and strode over to the closet where X had been staring seconds before. He pounded the hidden button that caused the false wall to slide down, revealing immaculate suits, each with a gun on their arm. “And what of these, huh?” He turned back to X, growling at him. “Your father always said he was sorry we had to use weapons of war like these, but he still built them, and gave me a damn fancy upgrade chip to boot. He still had the common sense to know that there will always be fighting. So what, are you gonna destroy these? Get rid of what you have left of your family _for your own selfish ideals?_ ”

X didn’t dignify that question with an answer. Instead, he said two words he’d never said to Zero before, ones that no Hunter had ever had the principle to say to him, a perfect match for his first statement that had begun this argument in the first place.

“Get out.”

Zero stood for a second, tempted to dare X to force him out of the room. But instead, he sighed, before walking to the door. He stood, light from the hallway spilling into the somewhat darker room, head turned to X. “Fine,” he snarled, just to get the last word in, before he shut the door.

Outside, Zero found Alia waiting for him, holding a datapad and looking sheepish. “How much of that did you hear?” he asked, beginning to walk down the hallway with her in tow.

“More than I wanted to,” she confessed, as she walked alongside him. “So it’s true? He’s leaving?”

Zero nodded. “All but. He’ll still be around, and he’s certainly staying in the city and will be on-base from time to time, but so long as it isn’t Sigma again? He’s done.”

Alia sighed, brushing her hair out of the way of her eyes. “I suppose it can’t be helped.” She held out her datapad to Zero. “I’ve got a new proposal, since I heard rumors about this.”

He took the pad and raised an eye, skimming its contents. “‘Navigator Combat Training Program?’” he read the title. “I know I’ve argued for you guys having some field experience before, but this is...more than I’d imagined.”

Alia shrugged. “We’ve reorganized since Eurasia. No more units and their commanders. And for all those who joined up after the fall, the Hunters simply aren’t what we were after Repliforce’s coup. X resigning will cripple us even more.”

Zero nodded. “I want to agree to this, Alia, I do…but I don’t think it’ll happen yet.”

“Oh?” she asked simply, trying to not let her disappointment show in her voice.

“It’s not just me,” Zero admitted. “Of the rest of the command staff...well, of course Lifesaver would never agree to it. He’s hardwired not to. But X has a point. There hasn’t been anything major since…” he hesitated, not wanting to name Gate around his ex-partner, knowing the guilt Alia still felt, and how likely it was that his death had encouraged her to propose this. “...the Nightmare incident. Because of that, I can’t see Douglas or Signas agreeing to this either.” He inclined his head to her as he passed the pad back and they rounded a corner. “Save it. If Sigma does come back again, I’m sure they’ll go for it in a heartbeat.”

As their voices and footsteps faded away, X sunk back into the doorway where he’d been eavesdropping on them from behind them. He pulled his First Armor from the rack it hung on, and clutched it as he sat on his bed and tears began to fall and stain it, with the grief and frustration that came from losing just as many battles as he won.

 


End file.
